


A Very Shitenho-ho-hoji Christmas

by Amyused



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Boys Kissing, Fanart, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 03:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2176005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amyused/pseuds/Amyused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of illustrated drabbles for the Christmas countdown on the livejournal shitenhoji comm back in 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Kiss- The Setup

**Author's Note:**

> Written by the Paula half, illustrated/brain-stormed by the Rachel half (plus some guest illustrations by [Omicheese](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Omicheese)). The theme was “Mistletoe.”
> 
> See the end of the fic for the accompanying fanart!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Konjiki Koharu/Hitouji Yuuji

“Okie dokie! That’s the third floor covered, Yuu-kun!”

“Okay, Koharu! We already finished the club rooms, so just the entryway’s left,” Yuuji joined in, grabbing his partner in crime by the hand as they made their way down the dark corridors of their closed school.

It was a brilliant, if common, prank for the holiday season. Mistletoe, on almost every door and overhang! Koharu figured that the foreignness of the custom was enough to cancel out the slightly cliche feeling that accompanied this particularly risque Christmas tradition. After hours was the best way to ensure that their decorations would last the week, though with how liberally they peppered the classrooms, hallways, staff room, bathrooms, and club houses with the leafy green sprigs, even if some teachers tried to rain on their festive parade, it was hardly likely that they’d find everything...

Koharu smirked the smile of a job well-done as he held the ladder steady while Yuuji came down from tacking their final bit of cheer in place. Last, but certainly not least, was a large Christmas wreath festooned with liberal bunches of mistletoe hung over the entry way near the shoe cubbies! That was sure to get some student couples in the morning!

Overcome with joy, Koharu grabbed the other boy in a celebratory hug to their success. Yuuji reciprocated, mind already thinking over some of the interesting scenarios to come over the next few days and considering whether he’d be able to sneak a camera on school campus. But wait... in a flash of mutual clarity that is only possible between the most connected of doubles pairs, both Koharu and Yuuji remember what they were doing and where exactly they’re standing. A quick glance upward confirms...

“Why, hoist with my own petard!” Koharu exclaimed, noticing the positioning of their wreath directly overhead. “You’d almost think it was on purpose, wouldn’t you?” Koharu’s expression took on a devious bent when his partner tore his eyes away from the entrance. “It’s like a Christmas bonus...” Koharu wrapped arms around Yuuji’s shoulders and leaned in...

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/mistletoe01.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Rachel


	2. Second Kiss- Peer Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Shiraishi Kuranosuke/Oshitari Kenya

If Kenya hadn’t forgotten his library book back in their classroom during lunch break, this would never have happened.

If Shiraishi hadn’t decided to accompany his friend back to said classroom in order to continue their conversation, this would never have happened.

Fate is a fickle friend... aided by their tennis team’s best doubles combination’s sense of humor and decorating skills.

“Come on, do it already!”  
“Yeah, give ‘im a big wet one!”  
“You guys can’t back out now!”

“Just shut up, already!!” Kenya yelled ineffectively back at the dozen or so students still milling around in the 3-2 classroom, though more seemed to be gathering outside in the corridor, no doubt alerted by the jeers and cheers emanating from down the hall. Shiraishi was contemplating the plant stuck to the door’s top-most sliding track, as though debating who might have put it there, or maybe where it was harvested from in the first place so that he himself could go take a look at the trees. Live mistletoe was actually rather rare to come by in Japan.

Kenya’s complaints finally registered to Shiraishi and he stopped looking upward to instead focus on the task at hand. Small the dare might be, but the two of them had effectively been challenged to complete the Christmas ritual and no one on the tennis team, but especially not their captain, would back down from something like that.

A man’s pride depended on such things.

Shiraishi leaned in, trying not to be slightly offended by the nauseous look on the other boy’s face when an idea struck him. “You have kissed someone before, right Kenya?” There had to be a reason that Kenya was showing such reluctance, since it couldn’t actually be disgust with the idea of kissing him. Shiraishi might even feel a little bad at taking his first kiss, if that was the case.

“What?! Of course I-”

“And I don’t mean your mother.”

“N-neither do I!!”

“Or your cousin.”

“My WHA--mmph!!” Whatever else Kenya had been going to say wasn’t important. Shiraishi moved in with little warning and covered the other boy’s mouth with his. It didn’t silence him, but the muffled sounds of Kenya breaking off mid-sentence were hardly deterring. Kenya’s protestations had left his mouth slightly open and vulnerable to a deeper kiss than one might expect from two unfortunate mistletoe prisoners. Shiraishi moved swiftly, but thoroughly, as he tilted his friend’s head back about an inch to further facilitate a deep kiss. The fingers of his left hand sifted through the hair on the back of Kenya’s neck and his thumb played with the boy’s jaw, pulling it down and opening his mouth just a little further. Shiraishi’s tongue made quick work of stroking along the outside of Kenya’s teeth before delving in to tease his tongue, finally withdrawing with a languid touch to the roof of his mouth. If Kenya wasn’t slightly breathless from that then Shiraishi’d like to meet the person who’d kissed him better.

“Mm... how does that compare, I wonder?” Shiraishi mused against his friend’s lips, not quite pulling back all the way just yet.

Kenya remained stuck staring wide-eyed for a few beats before breathing out a quiet, but audible, “... ecstasy...”

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/mistletoe02.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Rachel


	3. Third Kiss- Incensed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Chitose Senri/Ishida Gin

It seemed the height of impurity that mistletoe would be hung here of all places.

Then again, Gin couldn’t really find anything in this situation that wasn’t impure.

The future monk had passed the transfer student on his way through the doorway while Chitose made his way out of the temple. The cloud of acrid stench was initially what made Gin pause before entering as Chitose made to go past him. He’d just opened his mouth to ask why exactly Chitose felt it necessary to light up in the school’s small Buddhist temple, when Chitose stopped him with a surprised, though mellow, “Ah.”

Gin followed the taller boy’s gaze to the rafters. Green, leafy, small white berries. He recalled other such plants hidden around the Shitenhouji campus leading to similar circumstances as this, where his fellow students were forced into... improper behaviour. Chitose looked back down at Gin and twitched an eyebrow up into his frizzy hair.

“Why are you here anyway?” Gin stalled the inevitable, at least long enough to sate his curiosity.

“The insense,” Chitose said breezily, starting to lean toward the other boy, “Good strong smell. Like a blanket, you know? Just covers everything. Every smell. I come here a lot, actually.”

“... Ah,” Gin knew Chitose could be found just about everywhere on campus, so really the fact that he was in the temple shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Gin decided that the surprise inherent in this sort situation must have unbalanced his thought process. Or it could be the incense. Or the pot.

That didn’t matter as much in comparison to what Gin now had to do. That much was clear. There would be no turning back. He would be strong. He would not waver. Gin mentally chanted to steel himself as Chitose’s face inched closer and closer... God, Chitose smelled really bad...

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/mistletoe04.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Rachel


	4. Fourth Kiss- Rule Breakers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Koishikawa Kenjirou/Watanabe Osamu

Why was their coach always so irresponsible? Koishikawa felt like he asked himself this question at least three times a week, usually when their coach wandered away from practice without a word to anyone for hours on end.

The vice captain was in charge of the club room today, which meant getting the key to open it and lock up at the end of practice. His first venture into the staff room to retrieve said key yielded no key, no coach, and no clue as to where either might have disappeared to.

… Okay, not exactly no clue, now that Koishikawa thought about it. There was a little area in the back of the school near the groundskeeper’s shed where everyone knew the teachers went for their cigarette breaks, even though smoking was prohibited on campus. Koishikawa made for that alcove at a quick jog, not wanting to keep the tennis club members waiting for too much longer.

Sure enough, there was Osamu sitting on the stoop for the back entrance to the school, puffing away contentedly and appearing in no hurry to get back to his, you know, work.

“Coach... I was looking for you!” Koishikawa said slightly despairingly as he stepped up onto the stair next to his teacher. “It’s time for club activities? Do you have the key to the locker room? I checked the staff room, but they said you weren’t...” Koishikawa stopped when he noticed that Osamu was paying less attention than usual. The man unfolded himself and stood up, sighing and stubbing out his cigarette on the step.

“Coach?”

“Figures, huh? I was hoping no one would come lookin’ for me out here. Maybe this is a sign that I should quit smokin’...”

“Coach, I honestly-”

“Look up,” Osamu said, pointing. Koishikawa followed the finger to the mistletoe tacked to the top of the entrance, right above where the older man had been taking his break, and paled. “Not allowed to smoke anywhere else, you know. Cheaky little twerps made sure to leave no doorway unturned... or something.”

Koishikawa was beside himself, but trying not to look it. A mental mantra of, "Shit! That means I've gotta kiss him! Oh god! Is it right or wrong to kiss my coach like this? What should I do!?" ran through his head as he tried not to make any sudden movements. His eyes darted toward the doorway, the steps, the bushes, anywhere that wasn’t his tennis coach as he tried to figure out which was the greater evil: running away like a pussy, or kissing a teacher?

Seeing the very obvious distress on the young boy’s face, Osamu chuckled a bit and patted the vice captain on the shoulder, ignoring how that didn’t help the boy calm down in the least. “Don’t worry about it. Your secret’s safe with me,” he reassured and passed over the key to the club room before waving the boy off.

Knees weak with relief, Koishikawa turned and stumbled off the stoop to get back to practice with the key safely in his hand.

“Oh hey, Koishikawa?”

“Y-yes?” the boy warily turned back to face his coach. With a wink, Osamu blew a kiss in his direction before leaning back against the wall near the door, “That oughta count, dontcha think?”

Blushing furiously, Koishikawa walked as quickly as he could without running to return to the student club room building and his former state of sanity.

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/mistletoe03.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Rachel


	5. Fifth Kiss- Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Shiraishi Kuranosuke/Tooyama Kintarou

It wasn’t often that Shiraishi and Kintarou arrived at school at the same time, but then Shiraishi tried to make it a point not to run late. Still, even perfection sometimes has its lapses. About a tennis court’s length from the entrance gates, Shiraishi and Kintarou caught up with each other on their way to school. Sparing a mutual glance and challenging smile, they picked up the pace, turning the dash into a race. Shiraishi contemplated just keeping pace with Kin-chan, but knew there was a very good reason to try to get through the gates before his kouhai....

Kintarou sprang into a wild leap and skidded to a stop just inside the large wooden gates, blocking Shiraishi’s path. “I win!” he proclaimed loudly, beaming up at his taller captain.

“Err, Kin-chan?” Shiraishi’d been hoping to bypass the whole mistletoe problem by going through the school gates too fast to get stuck under the large bunch decorating the overhang, but Kintarou had innocently placed himself right in harm’s way. “You do know you’re under the mistletoe, right?”

The younger boy blinked and furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s a mistletoe?” Kintarou face lit up after looking up at the top of the gates. “Oh, that? So that’s what that’s called! Didn’t Koharu and Yuuji decorate the school with that stuff?” Catching Kin-chan’s chin after he looked up, Shiraishi leaned down and gently kissed his teammate. He didn’t linger, but most wouldn’t call his kiss a ‘peck’ either. Still, Shiraishi didn’t want to traumatize Kintarou by attempting a kiss like he pulled on Kenya earlier in the week. He did have some principles, after all.

“What’d you do that for, Shiraishi?”

What an innocent. Shiraishi almost felt bad for kissing him, but well, tradition was tradition. “You have to kiss when you’re under the mistletoe, Kin-chan,” Shiraishi began explaining, gesturing with his arms spread to emphasize his point. “In other countries, people decorate with these plants around Christmas time. Think of it as a multicultural experience.” Shiraishi looked back at the younger boy and realised he had lost Kintarou after ‘mistletoe.’

Literally.

“Com’ere!” Shiriashi watched in uncomprehending horror as Kin-chan started running around the school yard, grabbing things, and kissing them. First a stray cat he saw wandering off toward the bushes, next the flagpole beside the entryway, and finally the statue of their school founder, Mwangie Schittenhosie, before Shiraishi was able to get his body moving to chase after the small whirlwind of a boy.

“Wait, Kin-chan!!! You don’t kiss EVERYTHING! Just people! NO! Don’t go into the building yet!! Kin-chaaan!!---”

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/shitenhoujixmas2.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Omicheese


	6. Sixth Kiss- Pissed Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Chitose Senri/Konjiki Koharu

“Make haste! Before anyone sees us! We must kiss!” Koharu held out his arms and puckered his lips, apparently waiting for Chitose to fall into his passionate embrace. The taller boy just sorta squeezed himself past his teammate and into the bathroom proper, ignoring the disappointed whine issuing from behind him.

“No, I gotta take a leak.” Talk about inappropriate timing, but leave it to the school’s most famous comedic duo to put up mistletoe in the bathroom, as well. Using his impressive height to foil Koharu's attempts at stealing a smooch for himself, Chitose calmly went to the urinals against the wall.

“Oh, you tease! You can’t just leave me here like this!” Koharu kept whining from his place near the door. Chitose was supremely unmoved by the other boy’s plight. Pissing took precedence.

“What this is that exactly?” Chitose intoned as he finally relieved himself. He’d been holding it in for a couple periods already, waiting for a moment when the teachers weren’t paying attention so he could slip out undetected. Breaks between classes were too precious to use for bathroom breaks anyway.

“You have no appreciation for Christmas tradition, you beast!”

Chitose wiggled his finger in his ear as Koharu’s pitch took a turn for the shrill. “Fine, fine. Just a quick one,” Chitose relented, figuring giving in would be the quickest way to leave the bathroom now that he’d finished his business, as it were. The kiss was quick and quite platonic, even missing the majority of Koharu’s mouth, besides the tiny corner of one lip. Regardless, though, the comedian moaned when Chitose moved away, batting his eyelashes as though it’d been one of the sexiest kisses of his life.

“So dirty~!” he giggled.

“KOHARU!!! What on earth are you doing?!?!” Man, Chitose didn’t want to deal with this. /This/ this being the extremely possessive boyfriend of the boy he’d just kissed coming through the bathroom door right at the wrong moment. He held up his hand, halting Yuuji in his tracks for long enough to say, “Hey, chill. Honest. I’m not encroaching on your territory. I’m taken.” Maybe the truth would be enough to stall the pair long enough to leave the room...? Judging by the stunned looks on the doubles pair’s faces, his plan had worked.

Hand on the doorknob, Chitose fled the bathroom to a chorus of, “Wait!! By WHOM?!?!” barely sparing the time for a parting wave before taking the stairs three at a time to get back up to the third year’s floor.

He scratched his head with a wry sort of grimace, still loping up the flights of stairs. Probably not the sort of situation to tell Kippei later. Not nearly as funny as the temple thing from earlier in the week anyway...

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/shitenhoujixmas1.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Omicheese


	7. Final Kiss- Excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsuspecting Couple: Oshitari Kenya/Zaizen Hikaru

“It figures,” Zaizen sighed into the frigid air, his breath making a steam cloud in front of him. As he walked back toward the club room near the edge of the tennis courts and school campus, Zaizen contemplated the various downsides to being a second year student. He wasn’t given any lenience for his mistakes because he should know the ropes by now. He got no special respect for having been in the club previously, since it’s only been a year. He still had to set and clean up every day, since even if the first years help, he still had to give them directions. As a regular, he had to work just as hard as the third years at his own practice, but he still had to oversee the practice of the underclassmen, too. And of course, he was always being sent on all sorts of odd errands and annoying schlepping. It made him feel like a roadie or something, but without the music tours. Totally not worth it.

“Wait up, Zaizen!” a call echoed out from behind the second year. “I’ll give you a hand! Carrying nets can get tricky and Kin-chan did break five of them...”

“I can handle it myself, Senpai,” Zaizen says over his shoulder. The dismissal didn’t deter the third year in the slightest. Kenya came up right behind him and clapped him on the shoulder companionably, much to Zaizen’s annoyance. After all, if he wanted to be annoyed at his senpai for making him do everything, it kinda ruined it to have one of them offer to help.

“Nah, it’s cool, it’s cool! Let an upperclassman help out every once in a while.”

“Attempting to act the helpful senpai now is a little...” Zaizen grumbled somewhat teasingly under his breath and reached for the door handle. In an unfortunate moment of doubles synchronicity, Kenya’s hand shot out to get the door at the same time, knocking his against Zaizen’s. Unfortunate, as the accidental touch of their hands made Zaizen grimace past the heat in his face while he opened the door wide enough for the both of them to enter.

“Hey, that’s not- Ack!”

Kenya’s sudden, cutoff silence is enough to make Zaizen stop in his tracks, still in the doorway. The look on the older boy’s face is enough to tell Zaizen that they just seriously let their guards down. Shit... He’d been extra cautious when going through doorways this week after noticing Koharu and Yuuji’s little Christmas prank and had managed to avoid any uncomfortable situations... until now. His senpai just /had/ to try to go through the clubroom door at the same time, so now they’re both trapped under the mistletoe, hung like a couple-ensnaring spiderweb over the overhang.

“Aw man... I am not having good luck with these...” Kenya laughed in a strained, embarrassed sort of voice, his eyes avoided looking straight at the other boy as his cheeks dusted pink. “Well, it's not like there's anyone here to prove if we really go through with it or not, so don't worry. Just sayin’ that we don't have to really kiss, or anything...” Excuses, excuses.

Zaizen’s apathetic expression took on a slight turn for the agitated. “It figures...” he snorted dryly. His senpai wouldn’t take advantage of the situation, much as they’d danced around each other recently with blushes and awkward stares. He was giving the two of them an out. But, now that Zaizen thought about it... did he even want one? “Whatever...” Zaizen continued, thinking over his words and debating where to take this. “I figured you'd be too scared to go through with it anyway...” That phrase flipped a switch, as predicted. Now he had insulted Kenya’s nerve and he was all puffed up with affronted dignity. “Woah, woah, hey, I was just sayin' that since you might be freaked out. I’ll totally kiss you, if that’s how it is!”

“Fine.”

“I’ll totally do it!”

"I said, fine."

Kenya looked like he was about to keep arguing before he realised that this wasn’t actually an argument. Zaizen stared back expectantly, challenge in his eyes and no sign of backing down. The older boy opened his mouth and then closed it again, realising that he was attempting to stall for time. The blush on the senpai’s cheeks darkened until he dropped Zaizen’s gaze and scratched the back of his head with one hand. “Uhh.... you sure this is okay? W-we really don’t have to-”

Fed up with Kenya’s dithering, Zaizen grabbed the collar of the other boy’s uniform and pulled him in for a, truthfully, rather awkward kiss. At first, Kenya kept a respectful distance between himself and Zaizen, hands held stiffly at his sides, still not quite believing that this was really okay. But then Zaizen shifted his hold on his jersey to the back of Kenya’s head, keeping him stationary and prolonging the kiss and Kenya’s worries started to thaw. Relaxing made them both move in just a bit closer to each other, lips angling for a perfect fit. Kenya and Zaizen gasped slightly in surprise at the feeling of unity the kiss instilled, but rather than breaking apart in wonder and ending the whole thing, they dove back in. It was anything but a "There! Now let's laugh it off and not let this effect our relationship!” type peck on the lips. No, now that tacit permission had been granted, Kenya responded with zeal, licking apart Zaizen’s lips and pushing his tongue inside. Not to say that Zaizen was taking a backseat in the exchange. Taken in by Kenya’s kiss, he began running is fingers up through the hair on the back of his senpai’s head, kneading and massaging as the kiss became deeper and deeper.

Just as Kenya bumped Zaizen into the doorframe for more leverage in the kiss, an impressed whistle could be heard from a few yards outside the clubhouse. There near the entrance, in all their ragtag glory, stood the Shitenhouji tennis regulars catcalling and cheering the two of them on. The team must have come to see what was taking them so long to get the replacement nets. Shiraishi looked smug. Koharu and Yuuji looked starry-eyed. Koishikawa and Gin looked mildly uncomfortable. And Kintarou looked at Shiraishi for explanation.

“Took you both long enough.”  
“Oo, did we miss out on the best part, do you think?”  
“What!? You’d rather look at them than me, Koharu?”  
“Was there some of that mistletoe stuff around here, too, or are they just kissing?”

Zaizen let his head thunk back against the frame and shut his eyes against the embarrassing chatter. Seriously, no respect... They could have waited just a little while longer.

[IMAGE](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t164/elysiasdaddy/Shitenhoji%20Comm/ChristmasKenZai.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by Rachel


End file.
